Reframing Me - Self-Development & Parenting Teens for Midlife Moms
Your kids are growing up - but so are you. Reframing Me is the podcast for moms of teens ready to reframe family, identity, and self-development in midlife.
Parenting teens is hard -and parenting while rediscovering yourself in midlife can feel even harder. Reframing Me is the parenting podcast for moms raising teenagers who are also navigating the transition out of hands-on motherhood, identity shifts, and the search for balance, fulfillment, and self-development.
Hosted by Dr. Jennifer Brubaker, a Communication Studies professor, mom of three teens, and intrapersonal communication expert, each episode blends family communication strategies, honest conversations about parenting teens, and self-reflection tools to help moms strengthen family relationships while rediscovering who they are as women.
Together we’ll talk about the issues moms face but don’t always say out loud: changing family dynamics, feeling invisible, letting go of control, and creating new purpose. Through research, theory, and compassionate conversation, you’ll find support, strategies, and a sense of community in this season of parenting and personal growth.
Join the Reframing Me community to connect with other midlife moms, share your stories, and reframe how you see yourself, your family, and your future.
Send emails to jen@reframing-me.com; or on socials: Reframing Me on FacebookAND join the Facebook group Reframing Me: The Podcast Community; @reframingme on Instagram; Reframing Me on YouTube @reframingme on TikTok
Episodes
282 episodes
I Gave Them Space... Now What?
Welcome! Thank you for being here!There’s a phase of motherhood that no one really prepares you for.It’s not the chaos of little kids, and it’s not the emptiness of the empty nest. It’s the in-between—when your teenagers are start...
Just Be Her: Things I Wish I Knew Sooner - #41-50
Welcome back! I'm so happy you're here! This is part 3 of my Things I wish I knew sooner series - #s 41 through 50. I just turned 50 last week, and to count down, I stepped drastically out of my comfort zone and started recording and postin...
Are you Hypernormalizing? (Probably!)
Thank you so much for being here!! I am so appreciative of you for tuning in!Last year, we had a conversation about hypernormalization that I think it's important to revisit. We’re living in a time when the world feels increasingly chaot...
Things I Wish I Knew Sooner: #16-41
In this episode, I continue my 50 Things I Wish I Knew Sooner series, walking through lessons 16 through 40.This part of the list shifts from what we do to how we experience our lives - our thoughts, our habits, our self-image, and the w...
The Birthday Girl Vibes... are Off
"I am going to warn you in advance that it has been a rough few days and I am not feeling like my best birthday girl self." This was the message I sent to my friend who is coming to visit to celebrate my birthday.Nothing is wrong and yet...
What were you like in the 90s? Teens and 90s Nostalgia
This week’s episode started with a random moment in my attic looking for an old box of college photos and turned into something bigger.There’s a growing trend right now of teens recreating 90s aesthetics… and even subtle shifts in what’s...
Spring Has Sprung! Living in Balance
As we (in the Northern Hemisphere) enter Spring, can we trust that we are on the right path, even if the balance we seek is only an illusion? Maybe we, like the Earth are only meant to find balance at times,
The Odyssey: "You're Only as Happy as Your Unhappiest Child"
This week I found myself thinking about something a lot of parents probably feel but don’t always say out loud.Two of my kids had tough weeks. Nothing catastrophic, but enough that I spent hours talking things through with them, listenin...
You can start any time: Things I wish I knew sooner - 1-15
You can start something new any time. It doesn't need to be January 1st or a Monday - it can be a random Wednesday in February at 2pm when, after YEARS of saying that "I'm going to work on my socials," you finally start.As I approach my ...
Jen is Zen - Consistency is Better than Perfection
Welcome back! I'm so happy you're here! You don’t need to be your best every day. You just need to show up consistently and be authentically you.After three years of saying that I was going to build my socials/be consistent i...
Tips for Men: When She Feels It More Than You Do
Welcome back! I'm so grateful you are here! Last week, we talked about men and women processing information differently. I wanted to follow up on that conversation with an episode to share with the men in your life to help them to understand ho...
QZ: Lunar New Year
Thank you for being here for a quick zen with me! Happy Lunar New Year!! As we exit the year of the snake and enter the year of the fire horse, can you reflect on what you have shed - the good and the grief. Are you ready to take on the fire ho...
QZ: Declutter
Hello! Welcome back to Reframing Me! I'm so happy that you're here for a quick moment of zen (with Jen!)... I decluttered my pantry yesterday (finally! after MONTHS of saying I need to...), and the mental space it gave me...
QZ: The Right Amount of Enough
Welcome back! Another quick zen for you today, because I've been reflecting on what is the right amount of "enough?" I feel like one minute I'm convinced I'm not doing enough and another I'm too much. My ideas abou...
QZ: Clean the Mirror
Thank you for being here! I saw a message I wanted to share - the monks who have been walking for peach across the U.S. reached Washington D.C. today! I saw a speech one gave where his message was to "Clean the mirror right away," and I think i...
QZ: Showing Ourselves Kindness
Welcome back! I'm so happy you're here today for a Quick Zen. I have not been talking to myself very kindly lately - in fact, I've been even unkind. If we can show ourselves kindness, it filters into everything - we feel joy; we see the world w...
When Conflict Isn’t Conflict: Information Processing Styles
This episode explores why disagreement feels so much heavier right now - and why so many conflicts aren’t actually about beliefs, but about how people process information, emotion, and threat.Using the current news cycle as a stress test...
Quick Zen: Perseverance and Resilience
Thank you for being here with me! Yesterday's quick check in made me feel so good that I found myself thinking of y'all again this morning. Today, when I asked myself what I want to bring into the day, I was primed by the upcoming Olympics and ...
A Quick Touchstone
I'm so happy you're here. This isn't our weekly episode - it's me just reaching out - a touchstone, if you will - to remind you that even though things are crazy and you may feel frustrated or sad or angry or emotional - you're not alone! We ne...
Recognizing Confidence and the Things That Still Make Me Happy
Thank you so much for being here!This episode reflects on how my understanding of confidence has changed over time. What once felt tied to performance, comparison, and getting things “right” now feels quieter and more stable, rooted in s...
Does Your Senior Have a Case of Senioritis?
Senioritis, often dismissed as a mere case of laziness in high school seniors, is a complex phenomenon affecting both students and those around them. With symptoms ranging from lack of motivation to irritability, senioritis can disrupt househol...
Jen is Zen - Believe in Yourself and Be Your Own Cheerleader
Thank you for being here today! Topping my list of "50 things that would have made my life a lot easier if I had known sooner:"Only you need to see your potential. Only you need to understand. Only you need to believe it’s possible. Your...
Raising Teens Mean Balancing Gratitude with Grief
We are complex enough beings to experience multiple emotions at once, and as parents of teens - and oftentimes, also caregiving for aging parents - two of those emotions that we're constantly balancing are gratitude and grief. Gratitude and gri...
Jen is Zen - Control the Controllable
Thank you so much for being here!What does it look like for you to reclaim a sense of control in your life?This Jen is Zen episode explores what it truly means to reclaim a sense of control when life feels overwhel...
When Your Nervous System Is Overwhelmed but Parenting Doesn’t Stop: Raising Teens Through Unsettled Times
Right now, many of us are being asked to function normally while living through ongoing instability, fear, and institutional breakdown, and that disconnect is exhausting. If you’re struggling to focus, feeling emotionally overwhelmed or numb, p...